Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1887-07-30
s. II -
A HISTORY Of ADVENTURE.
BY II. RIDER

chest, and placed it upon the table in q
somewhat gingerly fashion, as though he
mistrusted it. Then he prepared TO leave
tie room.
"Stop n moment, job" / said; "if Mr..
Leo has no objection, / should prefer to
have al Independent witness 10 this bust
ness, who can be relied upon % hold nj.
tongue unless he is asked to speak"
Certainly, Uncle Horace answered
Leo, for | had brought him up TO call me
uncle, though he varied the appellation
somewhat unexpectedly by calling me
"old fellow" or even, my |ayuncular rela-
tive"
job touched his head, not having a hat
i On.
Lock the door, job" / said, "and bring
me my dispatch-boX."
He obeyed, and from the box | took the
keys that poor Vincey, Leo's father, had
given me on the night of his death. There
were three of them; the largest a compare
lively modern key, the second an exceed
ingly ancient one, and the third entirely
unlike anything Of the sort that we had
ever seen before, being fashioned appar-
emily from a strip Of solid silver, with a bar
placed across to serve as n handle, and
some hicks cut in the edge of the bar. 1t
was more like a model of some antediluv-
ian railway key than anything else.
Now are you both ready" / said, as
people do when they are going to fire q
mine. There was no answer, so | took the
| big key, rubbed some salad-oil into the
wards, and after one or two BAG shots, for
my hands were shaking, managed to lit it,
and shoot the lock. Leo bent over and
caught the massive lid in both his hands,
and, with an effort, for the hinges had
rusted, leaned ii back. It's removal reveal
ed another case covered with dust. This
we extracted from the iron chest without
any difficulty, and removed the accumula-
| ted filth of years from it with a clothes
brush.
1t was, or appeared to be, Of ebony, or
some such close-grained black wood, and
was bound in every direction with fiat
bands of iron. It's antiquity must have
been extreme, for the dense, heavy wood
was actually in parts commencing 10 crum-
bic away from age.
"Now for it," ! said, inserting the second
key.
Job and Leo bent forward in breathless
silence. The key turned, and ! flung back
the lid, and uttered an exclamation, as did
the others, and no wonder, for inside the
ebony case was n magnificent silver cas-.
ket, about twelve inches square by eight
high. 1t appeared to be of Egyptian work
manship, for the four legs were formed of
sphinxes, and the dome-shaped cover was
also surmounted by a sphinx. The casket
was Of course much furnished and dimmed
with age, but otherwise In almost perfect
condition.
i drew it out and set II on the table, and
then, in the midst of the most perfect sill
eDcs. / inserted the strengthening silver
key, and pressed this way and that, until
at last the lsck yielded, and the casket
stood open before us. 1t was filled to the
brim With some brown shredded material,
more like vegetable fiber han paper, the
nature Of which ! had never been able to
discover. This carefully removed to tSe
depth Of some three inches, when / came
to a letter ~inclosed in an ordinary modern
looking envelope, and addressed in the
handwriting of my dead friend Vincey:
ITO my son Leo, should nc liUc TO open
this cdSket."
i handed the letter 10 leo, who glanced
ut the envelope, and then pat it down upon
the table, making a motion to me TO go on
emptying the casket.
The next thing that I came TO was a
parchment carefully rolled up. l unrolled
it, and seeing that it was also IN Vincey's
handwriting, and headed, Translation Of
the Unical Greek Writing on the Potsherd,'
put il down by the letter. Then followed
another ancient roll of parchment, that
had become yellow and crinkled with the
passage of years. This | also unrolled. 1t
was likewise a translation of the same
Greek original, but in black-letter Latin
this time, and appeared to me from the
style and character TO date from the end Of
the fifteenth, or perhaps the middle of the
sixteenth, century. Immediately beneath
this roll was something hard and heavy,
wrapped up in yellow linen, and reposing
Upon another layer Of the fibrous material.
Slowly and carefully we unrolled the linen,
exposing TO view a very large but undoubt-
eddy ancient potsherd OF n dirty yellow
color! This potsherd had in my Judgment
once been q part Of an ordinary amphora
of medium size. For the rest it measured
eleven inches in length by ten in width,
was about a quarter Of an inch thick, and
densely covered on the convex side, that
lay toward the bottom OF the box, with
writing in the later Unical Greek charac
ter, faded here II there, but Tor the most
part perfectly legible, the inscription hav'
ing evidently been executed with the great,
est care, and by means Of a reed pen, such
as the ancients often used. must not for
get To mention that in some remote age
this wonderful fragment had been broken
in two. and rejoined by means Of cement
and eight long riyets. Also there were
numerous Inscriptions on the inner side,
but these were of the most erratic charac-
ter, and had clearly been made by differ.
ent hands and in many different ages
and of them | shall have to speak present
ly.
"Is there anything more?" asked Leo, in
a kind of excited whisper.
CROPPED about, and produced something
hard, done up in a little linen bag. Out o
the bag we took, first, a very beautiful
miniature lone spon ivory, and secondly
a small chocolate-colored composition sea
rdb9uS, marked thus:
rs n